Britain's prison population reaches all-time high

The prison population has leapt to a new record high in Britain.

The population now stands at 74,543 - a rise of 2,167 so far this year and 2,674 higher than a year ago. The rise continues the steady upwards trend over a generation, with almost twice as many people in jail today as 25 years ago.
This reinforces the country's position as the jail capital of western Europe, with 141 per 100,000 of its citizens incar-cerated.

sources: Independent, Guardian et. al.


Over 9 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world.
About half of them are in the USA (2.03 m), Russia (0.83.m) and China (1.51 m plus pre-trial detainees and prisoners in "administrative detention").

The highest prison population rate:
USA 701/100,000
Russia 606
Belarus 554
US Virgin Islands 522
Kazakchstan 522
Cayman Islands 501
Turkmenistan 489
Belize 459
Bermuda 447
Suriname 437
Dominia 420
Ukraine 415


However, more than 3/5 of the countries have rates below 150 per 100,000.


Prison populatons varies between continents, regions and countries on continents.

Any idea, why this happens? Why are 141 in the UK (leading in Western Europe) considered such bad regarding the high numbers e.g. in the USA?
Why are the numbers in underdeveloped countries so high .... and highest in the most developed country of the world?

World Prison Population List (pdf-file!)